Sensex Ends Day Marginally Higher; Realty Stocks Gain the Most

Mon, 23 Apr Closing

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After opening the day in green, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day in green. Sectoral indices were mixed, with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the pharma sector leading the gains.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 35 points (up 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 21 points (up 0.2%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.6%.

Asian stock markets finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.1%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 0.3%. Meanwhile, European markets too were trading in red. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.1%, the DAX was down by 0.1% while the CAC 40 was down by 0.2%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 66.42 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 68.09 at the time of writing.

In news from stocks in the IT sector. TCS share price was in focus today after the IT services major became the first Indian company to hit a total market capitalization of US$100 billion.

The latest spike in TCS shares has been driven by its March quarter earnings, in which the company reported a 5.7% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 69 billion.

The US$100 billion milestone puts TCS in esteemed company, with only 63 other companies worldwide, including the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google) and Facebook.

With TCS achieving such milestones, the IT sector seems to have turned the corner.

How It Paid Off to Bet on the Uncertainties in the IT Sector

During the financial year 2017-18, the BSE Sensex delivered a return of about 11%. Blame the market correction that started in February for the modest returns.

However, the BSE IT index gained over 19% during the same period. Now, that's a significant outperformance. If you were holding some solid IT stocks last year, you have most likely fared better than the Sensex.

But last year, the markets were not as optimistic on the sector as they are now.

Look at the chart...

During the first half of 2017-18, the IT sector was among the underperformers, and it was lagging way behind the Sensex.

During the first half of 2017-18, the IT sector was among the underperformers, and it was lagging way behind the Sensex. In fact, until October 2017, the index was still hovering near levels seen in April 2017.

But once the mood of the market changed, the IT index not only recovered, but went on to outperform the Sensex.

In Ankit Shah's (Research Analyst) premium newsletter Insider, the IT sector was his top pick since launch of the service in July 2017.

Here's Ankit discussing what gave him the foresight to recommend so many promising IT stocks.

• Last year when I had discussions with my fundamentals-based research team, I got a clear sense that the uncertainty and negativity surrounding the IT sector -- the H1-B visa problem, the global slowdown concerns, strengthening of the Indian rupee, high attrition rates, etc. -- was blown out of proportion. There was a good contrarian opportunity to buy 'uncertainty' when the markets were fearful of IT stocks.
  
  Like I said earlier, it is during moments of 'uncertainty' that lucrative investment opportunities are created.

TCS share price ended the day up by 0.3%.

Moving on to news from stocks in the pharma sector. Unichem Labs share price is in focus today after the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) completed its inspection of the company's Ghaziabad facility with no integrity or repeat observations for the unit.

The US regulator which began inspections on 16 April 2018, cleared the facility with nothing adverse to report.

Note that this inspection also covered one of the first to file molecules.

Unichem share price ended the day up by 6.7%.

Is this the right time to buy pharma stocks?

There was a time when almost every stock in the pharma sector was considered to be a safe stock. You could just pick the top 5-6 companies from this sector and expect to make decent returns over time.

In fact, it was termed as defensive sector. However, in last two years things have changed a lot. There is enormous uncertainty in the industry.

Uncertainty regarding price erosion in the United States as well as hostile US FDA visits, have changed a once defensive sector into a risky sector.

However, we believe this could be point of consolidation in the industry i.e. with stricter norms, lower margins, and pricing pressure, the industry may see many exits and acquisitions. This could lead to relatively fewer but higher quality players.

We believe, if you can pick a niche company with good financials and strong management, this is a good time to consider pharma stocks.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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